Learning to ride a bicycle is a fixture of childhood. A common scene includes a parent holding a child's seat, running behind the child, and finally letting go, allowing the child to balance by herself.
While this scene seems romantic, the next scene often includes the child riding into the bushes, or falling onto the street. Riding a bicycle is a complex task. Successful training requires building on skills one-at-a-time, rather than all at once.
Mastering a bicycle requires the rider to learn balance, coordination, and the motion of pedaling. Mastering each of these three skills requires practice.
Bicycle training wheels installed on a standard bicycle are a helpful aid, reducing the burden on the child to learn balance. But the child must still simultaneously learn coordination of steering with the motion of pedaling.
Additionally, all of the drawbacks discussed above apply equally to adults. Some adults never learned to ride as children, or have lost their ability for lack of practice. Thus, for them, focusing on specific skills is just as helpful.
What is needed is a device that changes an ordinary bicycle into a stationary bicycle, allowing the child to focus on learning the motion of pedaling without fear of falling, or the risk of steering into a hazard.